According to research firm Canalys, global AI PC shipments will reach 48 million units in 2024, accounting for 18% of total personal computer (PC) shipments. By 2025, AI PC shipments are expected to exceed 100 million units, making up 40% of total PC shipments. By 2028, AI PC shipments will reach 205 million units, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44% from 2024 to 2028.
Storage is a crucial component of AI, with AI training driving demand for HBM, and AI PCs poised to redefine SSDs. AI applications require vast amounts of data, and AI training and inference processes demand higher read and write performance from data storage. Currently, manufacturers of PC processors, flash memory chips, main control chips, modules, and terminals are promoting the adoption of PCIe 5.0 SSDs and continuously enhancing their performance to meet the demands of AI applications on AI PCs.
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Some PCIe 5.0 SSDs for PCs
In the consumer market, several manufacturers have launched PCIe 5.0 SSD products, including Crucial T700/T705, Corsair MP700/MP700 PRO, and Lexar NM1090 SSD.
The Crucial T700 is a flagship PCIe 5.0 SSD with capacities of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, using Micron’s 232-layer TLC NAND flash, paired with an independent DRAM cache, and featuring the Phison PS5026-E26 controller. It offers sequential read speeds up to 12400MB/s, sequential write speeds up to 11800MB/s, and random 4KiB read and write speeds up to 1500K IOPS.
The Crucial T705 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD uses an upgraded Phison PS5026-E26-52 controller, with sequential read speeds up to 14500MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 12700MB/s, available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities.
The Lexar NM1090 SSD features the Phison E26 controller and Micron flash, using PCIe 5.0 x4 channels and NVMe 2.0 technology. The 1TB version offers sequential read and write speeds of 11500MB/s and 9000MB/s, respectively, while versions of 2TB and above offer sequential read and write speeds of 12000MB/s and 11000MB/s. Available capacities include 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB.
Last year, Corsair released its first PCIe 5.0 SSD, the MP700, with sequential read and write speeds of 10000MB/s. Subsequently, they launched the MP700 PRO PCIe 5.0 SSD with sequential read speeds up to 12400MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 11800MB/s.
Recently, SK Hynix announced the development of the “industry’s highest performance” SSD product PCB01 for end-side AI PCs. SK Hynix claims it is the first in the industry to use ‘PCIe 5.0 x 8 interface’ technology, significantly enhancing data processing speed and performance. For PC SSD products, SK Hynix’s PCB01 offers sequential read and write speeds of 14GB/s and 12GB/s, respectively. Compared to the previous generation, PCB01’s energy efficiency has improved by over 30%, enhancing the stability of large-scale AI computing.
SK Hynix also applied SLC Caching technology to this product, allowing some NAND flash memory cells to operate in high-speed SLC mode. The SK Hynix PCB01 will be available in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities. SK Hynix is validating the new product with global PC customers and plans to start mass production this year, offering products for both large customers and general consumers.
Looking at consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 SSDs on the market, most use PCIe 5.0 x 4 interface and NVMe 2.0 technology standards, with some SSDs achieving read speeds of 12GB/s. The Crucial T705 and SK Hynix PCB01 SSDs achieve read speeds of 14GB/s, fully utilizing performance. Additionally, the PCB01 SSD supports PCIe 5.0 x 8 interface, focusing on the high-performance PC market. Theoretical data for PCIe 5.0 x 8 suggests throughput can reach 31.5GB/s. To meet the intelligent demands of AI PCs, PCIe 5.0 SSDs will continue to enhance performance.
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Controller chip manufacturing process and performance improvement
Most consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 SSDs on the market use the Phison PS5026-E26 controller. In addition to this controller, Phison has launched two other PCIe 5.0 controllers, the E26 Max14um and the E31T.
The PCIe 5.0 SSD PS5026-E26 Max14um achieves stable 14.7GB/s sequential read performance and is the first flagship controller chip globally to score 1000MB/s in PCMark 10 and 3DMark Storage Tests.
Phison also launched the high-performance DRAM-Less E31T SSD storage solution, continuing the flagship PCIe 5.0 E26 technology. It is the first mainstream SSD globally to reach speeds of 10GB/s, revolutionizing the storage market and PC OEMs.
The E31T, manufactured using TSMC’s 7nm process, is designed for PCIe 5.0 x4 interfaces, providing the maximum bandwidth and connection efficiency for SSDs. In the current 3600MT/s NAND generation, the E31T SSD can achieve performance up to 10.8GB/s, with maximum capacities reaching 8TB. In the future, with the release of the new 4800MT/s NAND generation, the E31T SSD’s speed will further increase to 14GB/s, pushing PCIe 5.0 DRAM-Less SSD performance to new heights.
Silicon Motion’s SM2508 PCIe 5.0 controller, manufactured with TSMC’s 6nm EUV process, supports flash memory channels up to 3600MT/s, with sequential read and write speeds of 14GB/s and random read and write speeds of 2.5M IOPS and 2.4M IOPS.
InnoGrit Technology released the YRS820 consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 controller solution based on the open-source RISC-V architecture. It supports four-channel PCIe 5.0 standard interfaces and is equipped with eight NAND flash channels, supporting NVMe 2.0 protocol with an interface transfer rate of 2667MT/s. It can pair with 3D TLC/QLC NAND flash, supporting capacities up to 8TB. The YRS820 offers sequential read speeds of 14GB/s, sequential write speeds of 12GB/s, and random read and write speeds of 2000K IOPS and 1500K IOPS, respectively. The YRS820 mainly targets the high-end consumer market, including AI PCs.
Storage controller chip manufacturers are iterating on PCIe 5.0 controllers, eliminating the early SSD predicament of sequential read speeds below 14GB/s. Future PCIe 5.0 SSD sequential read speeds will all increase to 14GB/s. Additionally, the adoption of advanced manufacturing processes can reduce power consumption, providing a better user experience for PCIe 5.0 SSDs.
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PC processors offer more support for PCIe 5.0 channels
The application of PCIe 5.0 relies on the support of mainstream CPU manufacturers. Starting with Intel’s 12th generation Core processors and AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series processors, they provide 16 PCIe 5.0 channels for direct connection to PCIe 5.0 devices. For example, Intel’s 12th generation Core CPU has a total of 20 PCIe channels, offering 16 PCIe 5.0 channels for direct connection to independent graphics cards and 4 PCIe 4.0 channels for M.2 SSDs.
Similarly, AMD’s X670E provides up to 24 PCIe 5.0 channels and up to 44 PCIe total channels, with the new X870 and X870E motherboards supporting more PCIe 5.0 channels. Recently, there have been reports that Intel’s Arrow Lake-S on the new platform will have 32 PCIe channels, including 20 PCIe 5.0 channels and 12 PCIe 4.0 channels. This includes 16 PCIe 5.0 channels for connecting independent graphics cards, 4 PCIe 5.0 channels for M.2 SSDs, another 4 PCIe 4.0 channels for M.2 SSDs, and the remaining 8 DMI 4.0 channels connecting to PCH.
Although NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards currently do not support PCIe 5.0, with even the NVIDIA RTX4090 not supporting PCIe 5.0, considering the increasing prevalence of PCIe 5.0 applications in the future, processor manufacturers will provide more PCIe channels.
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Summary
Generative AI not only drives the boom in AI training but more importantly realizes the true landing of edge-side AI inference applications. AI requires high bandwidth and high performance from storage devices, accelerating the evolution and adoption of PCIe standards. The PCIe standard is evolving from 4.0 to 5.0 and even 6.0, with technology standards leading the way and then being adopted in applications. Currently, we are in a critical period of transitioning from PCIe 4.0 to PCIe 5.0. Starting with AI servers, it is expanding to more terminal devices, including AI PCs. With the upgrade of traditional PCs to AI PCs, PCIe 5.0 adoption is expected to accelerate in 2024, increase in volume in 2025, and continue to rise in penetration.
Source from Internet
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